Monday 4 March 2013

Amontillado VORS 19.5%, Bodegas Tradicion

Appearance
Pure amber fading through yellow to a slightly green rim, legs.
Nose
Fresh, crisp and precise Amontillado nose; forthcoming, quite tight and very aromatic toasted hazelnuts and oak with that classic hint of apparent sweetness; clean with traces of dried fruits and supreme depth and finesse, it even still has traces of the flor salinity; quite beautiful.
Palate
Medium bodied but intense; dry, with all the above along with a gentle tang of acid and a trace of salinity which carry the amazingly complex flavour through; a touch of tannin from the wood is followed by a trace of marzipan, then it just relaxes into a harmonious and interminable finish. Lovely.
Comments
VORS wines must have at least 30 years' solera age, and this one has over 40 (43 to be precise) - there is no higher category. When the bodega was established, old soleras were bought, and this one is built from wines with origins in all three of the Sherry triangle towns. Now the scales have been run for a few years - in Jerez - the wine has harmonised, and this accounts presumably for its crisp zesty character. I feel the Sanlucar element most strongly - that tangy zip. Fabulous wine. This is (well, was, unfortunately) bottle number 10 from 650 from that particular saca, all of which are necessarily very limited. It is sealed with a high quality driven agglomerate cork with a wax seal.
Price
£ 57.50 per bottle from importers Raeburn Fine Wines, Edinburgh. This seems expensive, but compared to fine Claret or vintage Champagne, it is ridiculously cheap. It's all about complexity for your money, and that's where Sherry scores, time and time again.

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